Audiobook DNF Review: Glow

Glow (Sky Chasers, 1) by Amy Kathleen Ryan, read by Ilyana Kadushan and Matthew Brown, 2011. Runtime: 9 hr 59 min (8 discs). Published by Macmillan Audio. Source: Publisher (unsolicited).

If a violent battle destroyed the only world you’ve ever known, would you be brave enough to save who was left? Would love be strong enough to survive the fight? Either way, there’s no turning back.
The Empyrean is the only home 15-year-old Waverly has ever known. Part of the first generation to be successfully conceived in deep space, she and her boyfriend Kieran will be pioneers of New Earth. Waverly knows she must marry young in order to have children who can carry on the mission, and Kieran, the handsome captain-to-be, has everything Waverly could want in a husband. Everyone is sure he’s the best choice. Still, there’s a part of Waverly that wants more from life than marriage, and she is secretly intrigued by the shy, darkly brilliant Seth.
Suddenly, Waverly’s dreams are interrupted by the inconceivable – a violent betrayal by the Empyrean's sister ship, the New Horizon. The New Horizon’s leaders are desperate to populate the new planet first, and will do anything to get what they need: young girls. In one pivotal moment, Waverly and Kieran are separated, and find themselves at the helm of dangerous missions, where every move has potentially devastating consequences, and decisions of the heart may lead to disaster.

First Sentence:

The other ship hung in the sky like a pendant, silver in the ether light cast by the nebula.

Unfortunately, I was unable to finish listening to Glow. The concept was interesting, but the execution left me feeling not to invested in the outcome of the characters. I will try my hardest to convey why it did not work out for me.

While Glow may not have worked for me,  I do encourage you to decide whether or not it is for you since not everyone has the same views or tastes in books.

Story:
Usually, I am a big fan of sci-fi books, so I was quite disappointed when I did not find myself enjoying Glow. I thought that it had a lot of promise, but just did not quite hit the mark. While it is sad, not every book/audiobook is going to be for every- or me.

As I mention in my least favorite part of the book- found below- I felt that the story needed to have a little more clarifaction and distinction between the two differentbeliefs of the two ships; and also Kieran could have used a lot more personality. I felt like the two ships should have been more different then how they appeared.

One of the things that usually keeps me reading a book, is when I care about what happens to the characters and whether or not they are going to make it throuever ordeal they are facing. And that was one of the elements that just did not feel while listening to Glow. I did not feel the least bit inclined to see whether Waverly would either be rescued or save herself from her captives, without out that I just could not bring myself see things through to the end.

Waverly, was not a bad character, in fact she was my second favorite character out of the of the ones mentioned. I liked her because- as far as I read- she was not ready to give up and let the situation she found herself in get her down. And I really liked that about her, because I do not like it when- typically it's the female character- a character finds themself in a dangerous situation and they just give up and wait for someone to come and rescue them.
Kieran, he drove me bananas with how naive he was; and that he always took everything at face value. Not exactly the characteristics that make for an interesting lead character- be they male or female. Besides being naive, what really drove me crazy was the just him...he annoyned me. He frankly reminded me of paper, plain white paper.

While Glow not for me, I did enjoy one aspect of the story. I thought that Ms. Ryan did an excellent job when it came to describing the world in which her characters and story takes place. I thought that they way she had written certain scenes, like when Waveryly and the girls were kidnapped, as well as the battle the ensued, was done quite nicely. You could definitely picture- and imagine- the terror of the moment.
    What really kept me from enjoying Glow, was that the storyline just did not flow very well to me. To me, the story felt a little too conflicted and that the main bases of the plot line was too murky- on one hand (or ship) you had a more secular lifestyle, that was also more male dominated; on ther other you had a slightly skewed religious lifestyle, I say it was skewed because Pastor Mather was insane especially the way she went about things. What really bothered me about the set up of the two ships was that neither one of them was in the right, they were both a little out there, which meant that there was little to no contrast between the two pertaining to right and wrong. I think had the differences been a little more polar between the two groups it would have brought a new direction that would have benefited the plot and kept things moving.

Narration:

While Glow did not exactly pan out for me, I did enjoy Ilyana Kudushins portrayal of Waverly. I thought she did an excellent job voicing her and bringing out both the characters strengths and weaknesses; her reading was also the main reason I gave this book as long as I did before calling it quits.

As for Matthew Brown's reading of Kieran's character. Umm, Let's just say that Kieran was one of the most boring characters I have ever read about, and I do not think that anyobdy could have made him seem intersting. Mr. Brown's portrayal was pretty spot-on for Keiran, but as a whole the character just could not pull me in.

Final Verdict: The story was just to conflicted and did not mesh into a whole very well. Glow was sadly not for me.